Don Luis to Return in the Spring of 2018

Dressage

France

France's number one dressage pair, Karen Tebar and Don Luis, who have been absent from the show ring since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, are scheduled to make their return to the show ring in the spring of 2018 after a long period of injury.

Don Luis is a 13-year old Hanoverian gelding by Dimaggio x Rubinstein.

At the 2015 European Championships the duo was 10th in the Kur to Music Finals with 74.964%. A year later at the 2016 Rio Olympics, they finished 25th in the Grand Prix Special with 72.773%.

After the Games Don Luis got injured and needed half a year to get fit again. Karen had planned to make a come back at the 2017 CDI Hagen, but cancelled her entry after the horse knocked himself during an afternoon hack. Karen had to wait until mid August to start working him fully again.

Tebar's second Grand Prix horse Ricardo, a 15-year old Hanoverian by Rosentau x Ragazzo, struggled with minor fitness injuries in 2017 and only did three CDI's that year, his last one in Stuttgart in November.

At the first French A-squad meeting in Le Mans, on 18 January 2018, Tebar was present but did not take her horses on the 900 km trip from her base in Waiblingen, Germany to Le Mans, France. She confirmed, however, that both horses will be going full force in 2018.

Tebar and Ricardo at the 2017 CDIO Compiegne

"Don Luis' rehabilitation took long and we had to pick him up quietly with lots of walk, then slowly incorporating trot, etc," Tebar told Grand Prix Replay. "He needed time to get back in shape." She is aiming for April or May for him to do his first internationals again and then hopefully qualify on the French team for the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

Tebar also planned on qualifying for the 2018 World Cup Finals in Paris, but Ricardo was a bit too hot to trot at the qualifier in Stuttgart. "I think I overpaced him by competing at that show," she explained. "Now I'm going to train him more quietly and want to do a few national shows with him, so he gets his scores again."

Tebar trains with Jan Nivelle and at home her father Willy Schetter overlooks the daily work. Karen has two further home bred youngsters coming along: the 8-year old Heidanei (by Hohenstein out of her former Grand Prix star Falada M (by Forrest xx)) and a 6-year old Ding Dong (by De Niro out of Welesta (by Warsteiner x Ceylon)). She has the most hope in the latter mare.